"Fiddler On The Roof" - Woodland Opera House

Friday night brought a wave of nostalgia, watching "Fiddler On The Roof" at the Woodland Opera House. The first musical theatrical production I ever had the joy to appear in was the same show, on the same stage, in 1997. Indeed, several of the same people were involved in this production as last time: Joe Schulte as Lazar Wolf (previously, 'Tevye') and Micail Buse as The Rabbi (both shows!). In addition, Jon Mounts played Avram the Bookseller in this show as well as the 2003 DMTC production of 'Fiddler.' Jeff Kean directed both productions.

Darryl Strohl was a fine Bottle Dancer - he's limber and energetic. I really liked Monika Neal's double (or was it triple?) inside pirouette during her dance - it's freakin' scary to do that so close to the stage's edge! In general, though, the dancing in this production was considerably more conservative than in the 1997 production, including the 'Bottle Dance', and 'To Life'. To some, this was a blessing: Micail Buse broke his nose during 'To Life' in 1997, forcing him to use gobs of latex to cover the wound in 'The Dream' (which follows 'To Life', after the intermission). Not surprisingly, Micail said he preferred the 2006 'Fiddler' to the 1997 production (although, as he should recall, the 1997 nosebreak did correct an even earlier nosebreak, which for many years had limited nasal breathing to just one nostril, and finally allowed him to breathe again freely out of both nostrils).

Eva Sarry is listed as choreographer (or actually not as choreographer, but rather in standard MTI-contract language as 'original choreography reproduced by'). I prefer every show to have a choreographer - I think even if a 'traditional' show, there is no merit to mindlessly follow past practices. In 1997, Pam Kay Lourentzos was choreographer. A standard criticism of Pam's methods has been that she over-choreographs shows, but I think that's preferable to the alternative of not trying new things out.

I liked Bethany Pedersen (Tzeitel) and Monika Neal (Chava) just fine, but of Tevye's primary daughters, on Friday night, I thought Julia Mosby (Hodel) was the most effective - perhaps it was because she was more sombre than the others. I thought that Bethany had trouble with the acting as she pleaded with Tevye to allow her to marry Motel, The Tailor - she seemed tentative in hugging Tevye's legs. But apparently there was some backstage drama there - on Saturday I learned that Bethany had been battling illness earlier that week, and so we were lucky to have her there at all.

Regarding Motel, the Tailor, there is a fine line he has to tread, to neither be over-intimidated by Tevye, nor too belligerent in speaking back. I thought Clocky McDowell played the role a shade too belligerent, not waiting long enough to speak back to Tevye. Nevertheless, and as always, Clocky's energetic interpretation of the role commanded admiring attention!

I was surprised to learn Buffee Gillihan played Fruma-Sarah - did not recognize her! Her entrance, from below, was very powerful, but unlike other productions, she was not portrayed as a giantess, which had the benefit of allowing more movement, but also stripped away her intimidating aura.

In 'To Life', the role of Sasha was split with Kyle Hadley (as Fyedka) handling the singing, and Darryl Strohl doing the dancing.

Scott Woodard played Perchick a bit too in-the-moment for my taste - the puritanical idealism was overshadowed by too much enjoyment. To me, Perchick is best played as somewhat stiff and humorless - a proto-Strelnikoff (from Pasternak's book and the 1964 movie 'Dr. Zhivago').

Jeff Nauer played a fine Tevye - a different interpretation than most, but very well done. Nancy Agee has a fine voice for Golde, but I thought she was a bit imperious (maybe to compensate for Jeff Nauer's lack of imperiousness as Tevye???)

In general, this production was very 'goyish' - sounding off-key on a lot of Jewish themes, but that was a major criticism of the 1997 production as well (indeed, in 1997, Lenore Sebastian left the production during rehearsals, in protest). The problem, then and now, isn't a lack of goodwill, it's a lack of Jews. Yolo County theater is just a little too WASPish for some shows - too few Jews, blacks, Hispanics, gays - gays? Gays? Nah, I think we're OK there......

The music was wonderful (there was an accordion!) - I liked watching Erik Daniell's lilting hands against the lit stage as he conducted the orchestra.

In addition to actors from 1997, there were other DMTC favorites (Bruce Wallace, Jon Mounts) and WOH favorites (Matt Taloff).

Joelle Wirth played a fine Yente. I thought she wasn't quite ethnic enough, and too young, but she attacked the role with humor and energy.

Halloween Pictures

Susana sent these gems via E-Mail (the last one is for Lauren):

Andrew McKnight Concert, November 19th

This is the second concert in DMTC's series (the first concert, by Dave Nachmanoff, was great!):
-----

Award-Winning Shenandoah Valley Songwriter Andrew McKnight to Perform for Davis Musical Theatre Company’s Benefit Concert Series

Storyteller and Guitarist Weaves Humor and Poetry with Stellar Songcraft

Date/Time: Sunday, November 19, at 7:30 pm

Venue: DMTC’s Hoblit Performing Arts Center, 607 Pena Drive in Davis, CA

Tickets or (530) 756-3682; $20 General, $15 Students and Seniors

DMTC Contacts: Ben Wormeli, Vice President, DMTC Board of Directors bendmtc@aol.com, (530) 400-7369; or Steve Isaacson, Co-Founder, Co-Producer of DMTC steve@dmtc.org, (530) 902-2404

Artist Info: Includes free streaming songs from his four CDs, two radio interviews and high-resolution digital photos for your use at the Publicity Page. Please email info@andrewmcknight.net to schedule an interview or for additional information.

Davis Musical Theatre Company (DMTC) is pleased to announce the continuation of our new concert series, Keep the Music Playing in Your Community – Concerts to Benefit DMTC, with wonderful folk artist, Andrew McKnight.

Since permanently leaving his corporate environmental engineering career in 1996, singer, writer and guitarist Andrew McKnight's musical journey has traced over a quarter million miles of blue highways and small towns across the country, crafting his cinematic vignettes of Americans and their landscapes in music, poetry and prose in between 125 performances each year and on four critically acclaimed CDs on the
local independent Falling Mountain Music label (http://www.fallingmountain.com/).

That impressive discography includes his latest Beyond Borders, a finalist for the Independent Music Awards 2005 Americana Album of the Year as well as the Washington Area Music Awards Best Contemporary Folk Recording.

Beyond Borders includes his song “Good Things Matter”, Winner of the 2005 Great American Song Contest, Acoustic/Folk category.

Wherever McKnight takes the stage, audiences are at once spellbound and relaxed by his entertaining stories delivered with just the right touches of down home humor, causing one concertgoer to label him "equal parts Robert Frost, William Least Heat-Moon and Jeff Foxworthy!" He has shared those attributes in a wide variety of performance settings, including the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, the Kennedy Center and the National Theatre in DC, Appalshop Theatre, Mountain Stage NewSong Festival, Chattanooga Riverbend Festival, Baltimore's Artscape Festival, and the nationally syndicated public and satellite radio show River City Folk.

A longtime advocate for preserving American landscapes and heritage, particularly at home in northwestern Virginia, several of McKnight's songs are rooted in Appalachian history and culture, including the haunting Civil War ballad "The Road to Appomattox" and "Company Town", which leads off the 2004 compilation CD Moving Mountains: Voices of Appalachia Rise Up Against Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining.

Reviews:

• "blends wry and romantic stories with keen tuneful observations in a delicious mix of folk, blues and bluegrass... a man not to be missed!"- The National Theatre
• "As a singer and songwriter, McKnight is a marvel...brings a deep truth to his words and music that resonates with an irresistible charm...His voice itself is one that you can literally listen to for hours, savoring its mellow sound like a fine mountain wine." - Times-Standard, Eureka CA
• "covers abundant and fertile ground, musically and lyrically, though it seems unfair a gifted songwriter should also possess such a fetching voice and hot chops"- KUT FM "Folkways", Austin TX
• "Pick your favorite poet or balladeer and McKnight will equal them with an Appalachian soul"- Victory Review
• "this brilliant guitar player brought those (Blue Ridge) mountains with him...Relating story after story and song after song, often combining his interest in geography, history and a keen eye for the human spirit, Andrew presented a night overflowing with fantastic original material which could only be rated with Blue Ribbons, 5-Stars and a couple of thumbs up."- Tidewater Friends of Folk Music

Keep the Music Playing In Your Community – Concerts to Benefit DMTC

In addition to six Main Stage productions and four Young Performers Theater productions per year, DMTC now also presents these benefit concerts with these goals:

To raise funds to support DMTC Main Stage Productions, Young Performers Theater, and the new Hoblit Performing Arts Center to keep the performing arts and arts education alive and well in Davis and accessible to everyone. DMTC is a non-profit 501(c)3, all volunteer community theater company with a 21-year history of excellence in artistic achievement, community service, and youth education.

To support talented local, regional, and touring artists, raising public awareness of their great work and keeping their music playing too.

To enrich the community by providing affordable, outstanding musical entertainment in a family-friendly environment.

Poledancing For Tots

Sounds like Dan Ackroyd's sleazebag toy and Halloween costume salesman character from "Saturday Night Live" went off to England to make a fortune there:

Tesco has been forced to remove a pole-dancing kit from the toys and games section of its website after it was accused of "destroying children's innocence".

The Tesco Direct site advertises the kit with the words, "Unleash the sex kitten inside...simply extend the Peekaboo pole inside the tube, slip on the sexy tunes and away you go! Soon you'll be flaunting it to the world and earning a fortune in Peekaboo Dance Dollars".

The £49.97 kit comprises a chrome pole extendible to 8ft 6ins, a 'sexy dance garter' and a DVD demonstrating suggestive dance moves.

... Dr Adrian Rogers, of family campaigning group Family Focus said yesterday that the kit would "destroy children's lives". He said: "Tesco is Britain's number one chain, this is extremely dangerous. It is an open invitation to turn the youngest children on to sexual behaviour. "This will be sold to four, five and six-year olds. This is a most dangerous toy that will contribute towards destroying children's innocence." He added: "Children are being encouraged to dance round a pole which is interpreted in the adult world as a phallic symbol. It ought to be stopped, it really requires the intervention of members of Parliament. This should only be available to the most depraved people who want to corrupt their children."

Tesco today agreed to remove the product from the Toy section of the site, but said it will remain on sale as a Fitness Accessory, despite the fact that the product description invites users to "unleash the sex kitten inside".

... The pole dance kit is the latest item to fuel allegations that major retailers increasingly sell products which "sexualise" young children such as T-shirts with suggestive messages.

In recent years Asda was forced to remove from sale pink and black lace lingerie, including a push-up bra to girls as young as nine. Next had to remove t-shirts on sale for girls as young as six with the slogan "so many boys, so little time." And BHS and others came under fire for selling padded bras embellished with a "Little Miss Naughty" logo and t-shirts with a Playboy-style bunny that said "I love boys...They are stupid."

Tesco last night denied the pole dancing kit was sexually oriented and said it was clearly marked for "adult use". A spokesman added: "Pole dancing is an increasing exercise craze. This item is for people who want to improve their fitness and have fun at the same time."

DMTC First Annual Garage Sale Festival Event

"Tradition!" is important at DMTC, and we start a new one here! From the DMTC Newsletter:

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2006
7:00 AM TO 1:00PM
DMTC-Hoblit Performing Arts Center
607 Pena Drive
Davis, California 95618

DONATIONS NEEDED!
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED OF ALL AGES!

Garage Sale Items Needed
Pre Ticketed Sellable Items
(Priced to make money, but sell quickly)

Food Items Needed

Baked goods – wrapped & ready for sale
Hot Dogs
Hot Dog Buns
Condiments
Can Soda
Bottled Water

BBQ Items Needed

Borrow a BBQ Grill
Charcoal
Lighter Fluid
BBQ Utensils

Other Items Needed:

BoUnCe HoUsE
Face Painting Material

Drop Off Donations
M-F 4:30 - 10:00 PM Oct. 30th - Nov. 3rd
Donation Receipts will be available

Immediate response is needed.

Kindly email Mariepetersen@comcast.net as to your gracious donations, time, or other concerns.

Thank You in advance!

Please note * No major appliances- if they do not sell we do not have any source to donate them to. Thanks.

Becca's Article Is Out!

Left: Thursday night, October 19th, at the Crest Theater in downtown Sacramento, after the screening of "The Day Arnold Schwarzenegger Kissed My A**". Tanned, rested, ready, (and sexy, if I may say so), the Class of 2003 reunites!

Left to right, former gubernatorial candidates Gerold Gorman, Lorraine (Abner Zurd) Fontanes, Cheryl Bly-Chester, and Marc Valdez. Photo taken with Ab Zurd's camera (but by whom? Becca?), and provided by Ab Zurd Fontanes.


Here's the link to Becca Costello's column regarding the Sacramento preview of 2003 California Gubernatorial candidate Lorraine (Abner Zurd) Fontanes' movie "The Day Arnold Schwarzenegger Kissed My A**".

Sorry, that's "The Day Arnold Schwarzenegger Kicked My A**" (we'll have to wait for the sequel for the former).

The Quizzical Meaning Of Bankruptcy

I've been baffled why, if Air America is bankrupt, it continues uninterrupted on the air. Apparently RealNetworks continues to keep Air America going, even as creditors lodge claims against it. I don't understand how these things work, but there you are....

The Purpose Of Music

Last night, watching the 1967 television series "The Prisoner" on DVD (episode: 'Hammer Into Anvil'), there was a delightful slogan on display as No. 6 (Patrick McGoohan) perused the record selection in The Village's music shoppe: "Music makes for a quiet mind." Mind control so delightfully obvious!

Yet, I remember a time, in my childhood, when that sentiment was actually quite widespread, that the sole legitimate purpose of music was to induce a state of calm. My father, for one, insisted upon it. The use of that slogan in "The Prisoner" was so ironic - in the 1960's, I'm sure many Britons shared my father's opinion. That explains so much why the advent of rock-and-roll was so disturbing - music was being used to produce an altogether different state of mind. Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu, among many others, railed against Elvis Presley throughout the 1970's for exactly that reason. Just like I'm sure his father railed against jazz music....

We'll never make that mistake again! Or will we?

That's why I like musical theater - it soothes the inner demons!

Research Findings

Science marches on:

Researchers at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction at Indiana University say most men are always thinking of sex.

Actually, all I can think about is researchers at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction at Indiana University - nekkid!

Where Electricity Comes From, And Where It Goes

Via Junkcharts.

I Am French, And I Am Here To Microwave You!

When travelling overseas, keep expectations low:

AROUND a dozen Japanese tourists a year need psychological treatment after visiting Paris as the reality of unfriendly locals and scruffy streets clashes with their expectations, a newspaper has reported.

... Already this year, Japan's embassy in Paris has had to repatriate at least four visitors - including two women who believed their hotel room was being bugged and there was a plot against them.

Previous cases include a man convinced he was the French "Sun King", Louis XIV, and a woman who believed she was being attacked with microwaves, the paper cited Japanese embassy official Yoshikatsu Aoyagi as saying.

"Fragile travellers can lose their bearings. When the idea they have of the country meets the reality of what they discover it can provoke a crisis," psychologist Herve Benhamou told the paper.

... Bernard Delage of Jeunes Japon, an association that helps Japanese families settle in France, said: "In Japanese shops, the customer is king, whereas here assistants hardly look at them ... People using public transport all look stern, and handbag snatchers increase the ill feeling."

A Japanese woman, Aimi, told the paper: "For us, Paris is a dream city. All the French are beautiful and elegant ... And then, when they arrive, the Japanese find the French character is the complete opposite of their own."

Go Make Pluto Stand In The Corner

Yeah, they would, wouldn't they?:

Teachers See Educational Value in Pluto's Demotion

Money, At The Half-Century Mark

Wasn't it Herbert Hoover who said (paraphrasing):

In America, if you aren't a millionaire by the age of forty, you just aren't trying very hard.

And that was back in the 20's, when a million dollars really meant something!

Well, I turn fifty this week, but I know, if I just apply myself, I can reach that magic number before retirement.

And fame too! MikeMac, as usual, has some fine insights on the subject.

Sonny Bono, Statesman

Actors know things that politicians sometimes don't. Regarding Newt Gingrich:

Bono was the only one at the beginning to warn Gingrich that his arrogance and unchecked will to power would be his undoing. "You're a celebrity now," Bono said. "The rules are different for celebrities. I know it. I've been there. I've been a celebrity. I used to be a bigger celebrity. But let me tell you, you're not being handled right. This is not political news coverage. This is celebrity status. You need handlers. You need to understand what you're doing."

Bono saw the dramatic events unfold before him through the prism of his own dimmed star. He had had it all with Cher and lost it, staging a recovery in the Palm Springs oasis as a politician, which to him was a secondary level of celebrity. Yes, the beat went on, but he had heard it before and louder. That was the insight he imparted to the new Speaker that was instantly ignored.

Gingrich gloried in his rhetoric about "the revolution." He had little use for the experience of the older and wiser song-and-dance man. Instead Gingrich, a failed professor, described himself as a world-historical figure, leader of a universal transformation.

(Un)Helpful Advice

From Gabe:

Remember, Botox and Boomer begin with the same letter!

This Year's Political Campaign

Time to 'cut and run' from 'stay the course.'

"Gypsy" - Magic Circle Theater

Left: Lenore Sebastian as 'Mama Rose.'


On Friday night, we went and saw the second-to-the-last performance of the seven-weeks-long run of "Gypsy" at Magic Circle Theater in Roseville. Fine show, particularly with Lenore Sebastian starring as Rose. The early part of the show, with the various kid's acts, has always struck me as rather chaotic, but as soon as the main characters appear, the musical slows down and gains depth.

Jennifer Schmelzer did a good job with Louise, particularly when playing the young, gawky Louise, but the transformation into the star, Gypsy Rose Lee, seemed strained. It's hard to make that shift, into the sultry siren. Part of the trouble was physical - at one point, Schmelzer didn't manipulate the curtain carefully enough, revealing undergarments (thus erasing the nakedness fantasy). Part of the problem is that I'm not sure Schmelzer felt comfortable in the role. Not everyone does - stripping is an art all of its own, after all.

Paul Fearn did well with the acting challenge of playing Herbie, Rose's lovable and doting companion. Not much singing is required, but rather, a tremendous presence of character.

Of the three strippers, the one who stood out best was Lindsay Grimes (Tessie Tura) - brassy, funny, profane - a natural!

Kody Roza (Tulsa) was a fine dancer, perhaps not challenged to the maximum of his capability by choreographer Stephen Hatcher, though.

Left: Final bows, Friday night.


Afterwards, at BJ's Restaurant in Roseville, we had a convivial time. We discussed the perennial conundrum of what is the most appropriate thing to say to performer after a show. Someone once told Paul Fearn after a show: "You should have been in the audience!" (I related this perplexing compliment also at Andrea St. Clair's blog, but I repeat it here because it's just so damned cute.)

Lenore Sebastian unwound after her taxing performance. What was it like to play a role that was basically owned by Ethel Merman on Broadway in the 1950's?

"It is a very demanding role - you are basically onstage for nearly two hours straight," Lenore said. "Ethel Merman must have been something of a freak of nature, to belt the way she did." And to keep it up, for hours at a time, for the length of a Broadway run!

Coincidentally, on Saturday night, on DVD, I watched the 1963 movie "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World," starring, among everyone's favorite TV and movie stars of the 1960's, Ethel Merman. Wow! She was so LOUD, and she wasn't even trying! Think what she could have done in the cramped confines of a Broadway theater, putting some lung power behind her megaphone voice!

In "It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World," as the furniture mover Mr. Pike, Jonathan Winters was Phil Silver's nemesis, but he also bumped repeatedly against Ethel Merman's character, Mrs. Marcus. His verdict in the movie? "Listen, anything you got to say about your mother in-law, you don't have to explain to me. You know what I mean? Like if she were the star of a real crummy horror movie, I'd believe it." And, in fact, in "The Valley Of The Dolls," one of the characters was a transparent (and really scary) send-up of Ethel Merman!

Merman was given this fine line (it should be my epitaph - what to say when a Pollyanna perishes):

Now what kind of an attitude is that, these things happen? They only happen because this whole country is just full of people, who when these things happen, they just say these things happen, and that's why they happen! We gotta have control of what happens to us.

Some jokers from Magic Circle taking liberties with the Holy Icon of the 70's.....

Vegemite - A Difference Of Opinions

I suppose this means war between Australia and the U.S.:

THE United States has slapped a ban on Vegemite, outraging Australian expatriates there. The bizarre crackdown was prompted because Vegemite contains folate, which in the US can be added only to breads and cereals.

Expatriates say that enforcement of the ban has been stepped up recently and is ruining lifelong traditions of having Vegemite on toast for breakfast.

..."I was flabbergasted." Paul Watkins, who owns a store called About Australia in San Antonio, Texas, said he had been forced to stop importing Vegemite six months ago. "We have completely stopped bringing it in," he said. "(US authorities) have made a stance and there is nothing that can be done about it."

Australian Jaws

Add to the checklist of what not to do in Australia - swimming in canals. The Gold Coast isn't far from Brisbane, where I hope to be next month:

IF there was ever any doubt about the number of sharks in Gold Coast lakes and canals, here's the proof.

Robbie Hughes caught a 1.5m bull shark this week while fishing from his fifth-floor apartment - six storeys above the water if you include the car park. ... Last season, Mr Hughes landed 12 sharks from his at Varsity Towers balcony over Lake Orr, while more than 80 got away.

... Mr Hughes first began fishing off his balcony after he noticed large schools of sharks swimming below. "We thought we might as well take advantage of the fact we live just over the water and can sit back in the lounge and fish for sharks," he said. "We literally sit in the lounge room with the rods set up and play the PlayStation, waiting for the bites."

... Bulletin fishing expert Paul Burt agreed the Coast's canals were bursting at the seams with deadly bull sharks. "They are not out there in their hundreds, they are out there in their thousands," he said.

During the 2002- 2003 summer, two swimmers, Beau Martin and Bob Purcell, were killed by bull sharks as they swam in the canals around Burleigh. Earlier this year, Sarah Whiley was mauled to death by bull sharks as she swam off Amity Point at North Stradbroke Island.

Mr Hughes said he believed it was only a matter of time before someone else was taken. "It's inevitable with the amount of people that swim in the canals and the number of sharks there are," he said. "Not enough people are educated about them and a lot still don't believe it. When you tell them about the sharks they just laugh and think you're taking the micky. "But when you catch a shark they really freak out and are gobsmacked by the whole thing."

Mr Burt said bull sharks and whalers were the most common sharks found in Coast canals, with the bull sharks the most aggressive. "They are unpredictable beasts. They are nasty bits of work. The bull is the one you really have to be careful of."

... Despite calls for culling and netting canals, Mr Burt said the only way to tackle the problem was through educating people. "We've got hundreds of kilometres of canals. If you put a net in one you can't do the other 500, it's just impossible," he said. "You might get a handful out of one canal but that's only a handful. If you do our canals you then have to do the Brisbane, Logan and Northern NSW rivers because they are in every creek and river. Public awareness is the key."

A Gold Coast City Council spokeswoman told The Bulletin yesterday the council would not erect warning signs at canals and waterways this summer because it was too difficult. "We have 480km of rivers and streams and 770ha of lakes and dams on the Coast. Sign-posting all of them is simply not feasible."

Gotta Love That Dick Morris Tool!

Boy, it's sure loud in that Right-Wing Noise Machine:

But the GOP base is the best informed group of voters in the nation, with educational levels consistently higher than their Democratic counterparts'.

Rappelling Spider

In Sunday ballet class, we solemnly studied the cockroach as it lay on its back waving its legs in the air. "I hope I don't step on it," Jennifer said. "That would be really awful!"

"Ah, that's nothing," I said. "On Saturday, as I stood on a tall ladder clipping hedges, I inadvertently flung a big, web-covered spider into the bridge of my glasses. The spider then fell towards the ground. The webbing stuck to my glasses, though, and I got an all-too-vivid view as the spider rappelled back up towards my face!"

But not all are repelled by vermin. Last night, while Sparky walked behind me, I heard lots of squeaking, also behind me. Sparky had found some sort of debilitated mouse on the sidewalk, and sensibly enough, tried to carry it home in his mouth....

Doug Knows His Canyon!

Doug Nering is getting to be a Grand Canyon expert! From a report sent by Deborah:

We found numerous petroglyphs (paintings on rock) and pictographs (pictures carved into a rock face), especially in Flip-Off Canyon. Doug also located a spring nearby, as well as an old “cowboy camp.” The last night we camped near an Anasazi (around 1200 AD) site. Our camp was underneath an overhanging Supai sandstone ledge which kept us totally dry during the rain throughout the night.

Check Out "Picnic"

Two-and-a-half years ago, friendly Athena Bergen performed in the ensemble for DMTC's "Guys and Dolls," but then as far as I could tell, vanished. But not forever - she's playing 'Madge' in "Picnic" over at River Stage:

Director Adrienne Sher finely finesses these moments so the audience really understands the context of the women’s anxieties and fears. Sher lingers on the small gestures while wisely relying on humor to lighten other issues. And she nurtures her talented cast, resulting in strong performances from the main characters as well as every single support player.

Bergen and Rife are quite believable as the town beauty and the misunderstood bad boy.

"The Day Arnold Schwarzenegger Kicked My A**"

Left: Abner Zurd declares her candidacy in the 2003 California Recall Election, in her new film "The Day Arnold Schwarzenegger Kicked My A**".


One very nice evening!

Fellow Historical Figure (and current member of the California Mines and Geology Board) Cheryl Bly-Chester, her daughter Erica, and myself met with Becca Costello from Sacramento News and Review at the Pyramid Ale House on the K Street Mall in downtown Sacramento. Lorraine (Abner Zurd) Fontanes dropped in on the way to her screening, and said hello! We ate, and talked about the 2003 California Recall Election.

Then, at 7 p.m., we headed over to the Crest Theater to preview (for free!) Fellow Historical Figure Abner Zurd's new movie "The Day Arnold Schwarzenegger Kicked My A**" (promotional videos; music by New Maximum Donkey). Excellent documentary that captured perfectly the excitement and the apprehension of running for Governor in 2003. We all had different experiences, of course, but in many ways, all our experiences were analogous. It was heartening to see Fontanes face down a significant fear, that of being mocked in a national FOX TV News interview (her filmmaking experience had made her vulnerable to attack).

Also joining us was Gerald Gorman, another Fellow Historical Figure from the 2003 campaign. Afterwards, the four of us ex-candidates entertained questions from the audience.

There were just a handful of the other alternative candidates pictured in the film, all from the September 24, 2003 "Democracy Matters" Saratoga High School debate (near San Jose). Christopher Sproul, Jon Zellhoefer, and, yes!, Diana Foss (plus another candidate, probably Darrin Scheidle) were briefly shown. I was pleased that John Hancock, from the California Channel, also got a brief (and credited!) cameo.

Here is Graham Womack's promotional article in this week's Sacramento News and Review (SN&R). Check out Becca Costello's column in next week's Sacramento News and Review!

Support Abner Zurd in her upcoming Presidential bid!

Left: Afterwards, Lorraine Fontanes fields questions.

Left: From my files. Lorraine Fontanes on the campaign trail. September 24, 2003, at "Democracy Matters" Saratoga High School debate (near San Jose). Pictured, from left to right: a representative of John Burton's Socialist Party campaign, Libertarian Ned Roscoe, David Laughing Horse Robinson, Bill Vaughn, Darrin Scheidle, and Lorraine (Ab Zurd) Fontanes.

Hotel Workers Protest

Thursday evening, downtown Sacramento. Don't know what this is about (is it the Hyatt Regency again?), but there it is!

Showtime!

A helpful reminder from the Crest Theater newsletter. I'll be at the Pyramid Ale House at 6 p.m., with Cheryl and Becca, and whoever else, and then we'll walk over to the Crest at 7 p.m.:

Show time 7 p.m. FREE!

With $38 billion in debt, mounting job losses, a broken workers comp system, faltering infrastructure and a cold shoulder from the White House, what does the fifth largest economy in the world tell its governor? You’re fired! Using a musty old law from the progressive period in California politics, a handful of wealthy Republicans mount a campaign to recall Democratic governor Gray Davis. In the process, they open the doors to every registered voter who can pay $3500 and obtain 65 signatures to get on the ballot. Among those who qualified, Lorraine Abner Zurd Fontanes, decided to document her pursuit of California’s highest office on video. The resulting feature film is a naked, honest and, yes, absurd portrait of a novice politician who takes on Arnold et.al. in the glare of a bemused and skeptical media who denigrate the recall as a circus.

PERP - Bad Outreach Efforts?

These new air pollution regulations are bound to make waves in the air quality community. How much bite will the backlash have?:

When Amber Parsons and her husband started their modest concrete pumping business in Sacramento two years ago, she never expected to become the flag-bearer for an entire industry.

But that's before she bumped up against PERP, the state's registration program for portable, diesel-powered engines.

Officially known as the Portable Engine Registration Program, PERP has caused an outcry this year among hundreds of small businesses that serve California's construction industry.

Under the nine-year-old PERP program, those who operated portable, diesel-powered equipment were required to obtain a single, statewide permit to operate in California. The deadline for registering was Dec. 31, 2005.

... Fearing it will mean the end of her family-owned Performance Concrete Pumping business, as well as others in her predicament, Parsons said she wants to "bring attention to this before it ruins the state's construction industry." She's asking that PERP registration be reopened.

Parsons and construction industry leaders believe thousands do not know their engines and equipment are not in compliance with state regulations, even 10 months after the deadline elapsed for PERP registration.

"I was flabbergasted. Virtually a whole industry is not registered," said Mike Cusack, vice president of operations for Concord-based Conco Pumping and Belting, one of the state's largest concrete pumping firms, and a past president of the American Concrete Pumping Association. "Every single person I talked to didn't register their pumps and didn't know (about) it. I'm (part of) a $300 million-plus company. This is my job -- and I didn't know about it."

... "There wasn't any outreach, and there wasn't any enforcement. Lord knows, you can't hide a 150-foot crane," said Ed Puchi, treasurer and general counsel for MCM Construction, a highway construction firm based in North Highlands.

But the state Air Resources Board says it spent hundreds of hours trying to call, mail and e-mail contractors and others in the industry who would be affected. Gennet Paauwe, an Air Resources Board spokeswoman, said her staff is frustrated that some people still missed the message.

"We worked with every trade group, manufacturer (and) equipment association to get the word out," Paauwe said. "We talked with literally thousands. But you can't force them to read their mail or e-mail," she said.

Shots Fired Across From McClatchy High School

Apparently this happened this morning, in my immediate neighborhood, and fortunately it all seems under control now. A little unsettling: I ate at that restaurant, with Adam, just three months ago.

Why Does Washington, D.C. Feel So Claustrophobic?

There is so much deliquescent particulate matter floating in the air, and it's so humid besides, that it feels like you are wrestling helplessly inside a drippy ping-pong ball most of the time (and also, because there's so much nasty politics going on 24/7).....

If There's Smoke, Is There Fire?

Did Heather Wilson (R. - NM) cover up allegations regarding inappropriate touching against her own husband?

Party Like It's 2003!

You are all invited to a PARTY! The fun starts at 6 p.m., where Fellow Historical Figure (and current member of the Schwarzenegger Administration) Cheryl Bly-Chester and myself will play host to Becca Costello from Sacramento News and Review at the Pyramid Ale House on the K Street Mall in downtown Sacramento. Over fries and beer, Becca will ask a few questions about the 2003 California Gubernatorial Recall election campaign, and I'll show off a few mementoes.

Then, at 7 p.m., we'll head over to the Crest Theater to preview (for free!) Fellow Historical Figure Abner Zurd's new movie "The Day Arnold Schwarzenegger Kicked My A**".

Here are promotional videos: music by New Maximum Donkey.

A good time will be had by all!

Bad And Good Tolkien Analogies

Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum :

"As the hobbits are going up Mount Doom, the Eye of Mordor is being drawn somewhere else," Santorum told the Bucks County Courier Times. "It's being drawn to Iraq and it's not being drawn to the U.S. You know what? I want to keep it on Iraq. I don't want the Eye to come back here to the United States."

It's a very, very inspired reading of Tolkien by Santorum (an anagram, a Salon staffer eerily points out, for "Mt. Sauron"!).

Remember, the hobbits were in Mordor to destroy the evil, corrupting Ring of Power ("One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them." ). Much better to place Sauron in Washington, D.C., with the Eye of Sauron drawn to Iraq, and not back to the U.S., where lefty blogging hobbits are working in the current election campaign....

Courtesy of Gabe, here is a conservatively-oriented, but nevertheless highly-amusing, satire of Micheal Moore's "Fahrenheit 911", called "Fellowship 911", featuring lots of JRR Tolkien references....

The Privilege Of Owning

Poor Steve Wynn! $139 million!:

Director and screenwriter Nora Ephron, who witnessed and related the incident in her blog on the Huffington Post Web site, said Wynn had raised his hand to show the group something about Picasso's 1932 portrait of his mistress Marie-Therese Walter.

"At that moment, his elbow crashed backward right through the canvas. There was a terrible noise," Ephron wrote, noting that Wynn has retinitis pigmentosa, an eye disease that damages peripheral vision.

"Smack in the middle ... was a black hole the size of a silver dollar. 'Oh shit,' he said. 'Look what I've done. Thank goodness it was me.'"

Taking "The Time Machine" Literally

Dr. Curry sounds like Dr. Frankenfurter (aka Tim Curry). But who says this isn't the world we already live in?:

Humanity may split into two sub-species in 100,000 years' time as predicted by HG Wells, an expert has said. Evolutionary theorist Oliver Curry of the London School of Economics expects a genetic upper class and a dim-witted underclass to emerge.

The human race would peak in the year 3000, he said - before a decline due to dependence on technology. People would become choosier about their sexual partners, causing humanity to divide into sub-species, he added.

The descendants of the genetic upper class would be tall, slim, healthy, attractive, intelligent, and creative and a far cry from the "underclass" humans who would have evolved into dim-witted, ugly, squat goblin-like creatures.

But in the nearer future, humans will evolve in 1,000 years into giants between 6ft and 7ft tall, he predicts, while life-spans will have extended to 120 years, Dr Curry claims. Physical appearance, driven by indicators of health, youth and fertility, will improve, he says, while men will exhibit symmetrical facial features, look athletic, and have squarer jaws, deeper voices and bigger penises.

Women, on the other hand, will develop lighter, smooth, hairless skin, large clear eyes, pert breasts, glossy hair, and even features, he adds. Racial differences will be ironed out by interbreeding, producing a uniform race of coffee-coloured people.

However, Dr Curry warns, in 10,000 years time humans may have paid a genetic price for relying on technology. Spoiled by gadgets designed to meet their every need, they could come to resemble domesticated animals.

Social skills, such as communicating and interacting with others, could be lost, along with emotions such as love, sympathy, trust and respect. People would become less able to care for others, or perform in teams. Physically, they would start to appear more juvenile. Chins would recede, as a result of having to chew less on processed food. There could also be health problems caused by reliance on medicine, resulting in weak immune systems. Preventing deaths would also help to preserve the genetic defects that cause cancer.

... The logical outcome would be two sub-species, "gracile" and "robust" humans similar to the Eloi and Morlocks foretold by HG Wells in his 1895 novel The Time Machine.

Use WSJ's Lame Brains For Fertilizer Instead

So, Cindy Sheehan decides to fertilize a bush in Crawford, TX, with her uterus, and the Wall Street Journal mocks her for it.

Such a big, important story - a very manly story! - something that will rock the world of finance and business!

Why the Wall Street Journal isn't treated on the same level as Weekly World News, I'll never know. There is so much other fertilizer being shoveled in Crawford, TX, you'd think they'd pay attention to that first.

October 16th - Maintenance Night At DMTC

"It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," Jan Isaacson said. "The community turning out on maintenance night. We counted 51 people!"

Jan's right, of course. It was beautiful, all the assembled people divvying up various little tasks, like painting over bruises on the walls, and laying carpet on the seating riser aisles.

Just one minor detail left to attend to....

Miss Dairy Baby, 1974

Sacramento Bee's Bob Sylva wrote up a really nice profile about everyone's favorite ballerina, Jennifer Lin, in the Sunday, October 8th issue. Jennifer, of course, was modest about the attention: "Does it make me sound like a dork?", was all she asked. Instead, she was worried that a lot of Sacramento Opera information didn't make it into the article. But a human interest story wouldn't - and shouldn't - focus too much just on an institution. Instead, it's nice to know that she's there, doing her part to promote good singing and theater in Sacramento:

Jennifer Lin is 32 years old. She is tall, slim, intelligent, alarmingly funny. Verbally adroit. And gifted. She plays the piano and violin. She knows all about art and literature. She can sing. She practices yoga and dances ballet. An amateur motorist, she has managed to negotiate the city's freeways unbruised in her Volkswagen Passat station wagon.

Lin is director of marketing and audience development for the Sacramento Opera. Which is to say she beats the timpani and sells tickets. She has been in Sacramento for two years. And has performed her job with some inventiveness. Still, in an era of file sharing and acoustic mayhem, opera has a demographic problem. Lin is probably half the age of her average patron.

"The stereotype of a large woman wearing horns on her head, singing forever and ever," says Lin. "There are preconceptions about opera. But it encompasses all art forms. It has a theatrical element. It's the whole package -- the lights, the stage, the actors, the passion and the tragedy."

Then, turning delightfully morbid, she notes, "Opera always has a death in the end."

And if Lin were to sing a role, what role would it be? "Let's see," she grins, considering. "Would I want to die -- or just suffer?" Thinking of her fate more, she mentions Puccini's "La Bohème" and sighs, "I think the role of Mimi is beautiful and tragic at the same time. But I don't have tuberculosis."

...Tickets for November's "Aida" are on sale. Jennifer Lin forgot to mention that.

How Convenient!

Verdict time coming up:

Meanwhile, a senior court official said a verdict against Saddam Hussein and seven co-defendants charged with crimes against humanity in connection with an anti-Shiite crackdown in the 1980s will be announced Nov. 5.

"Grease"

Saw DMTC's YPT version of "Grease" on Saturday night. A great show! I particularly liked the fact that there were lots of people on stage for the big musical numbers (the core "Grease" cast isn't really very large, which takes some of the punch away when it comes to big numbers). I also liked the fact that strong males were cast in the primary male roles (Scott Scholes as Danny, Cody Craven as Kenicke, Wyatt Floerke as Roger, Andrew Lemons as Doody, Mark Lillya as Sonny). Scott Scholes can really hit those high notes!

The traditional "Grease" script was edited to remove unsavory aspects from the show, which mostly-improves the show, in my opinion, since all that that supposedly-edgy raciness adds is seaminess and tackiness. The only downside is that motivations get lost, but, then again, it's a musical, and musicals can often thrive in a haze of illogical incoherence. Apparently, a couple of songs from the original version of "Grease" are excised from this young people's version, but were added back in DMTC's show (thus, the welcome illogic of "There Are Worse Things I Could Do.")

The primary female cast members (Emily Jo Seminoff as Sandy, Jocelyn Price as Rizzo, Caitlin Humphreys as Jan, Meeka Craig as Frenchy, Julia Spangler as Marty) are strong and experienced. Nora Unkel was fine as 'Vickie' Fontain, and Rachel Fader excelled as 'Teen Angel.' Kennedy Wenning tottered on as Miss Lynch, looking considerably older than her years (do musicals long enough, and look what happens to you!) Chris Petersen played Eugene as more-gregarious than I once played the role (it takes a nerd to know how best to play the role, and I'm afraid Chris is no nerd). My only disappointment was that I wished that stellar Meeka Craig had had more time on stage. The biggest surprise to me, however, was just how effective Meghan Vanderford was as irritatingly perky Patty Simcox. This is the first time I've seen Meghan really let loose in a role, and she did an excellent job!

In my corner of the house (left side of house, near the top), there was an anticipatory buzz when Caitlin Humphreys and Wyatt Floerke prepared to sing their sweet "Mooning." At first, I thought it might have been Caitlin's friends, but it may have also been Wyatt's fan club at work (tipoff: the group was mostly-female).

Emily Jo Seminoff sang "It's Raining On Prom Night" together with Rebecca Rudy at the beginning of Act II. Emily Jo also sang a second song from her bedroom: "Since I Don't Have You." According to Emily Jo, the song comes from the "Grease" Broadway revival, and thus isn't in the original.

During the big group number of "We Go Together," at the end of Act I, I spotted Nora Unkel near the back looking slightly uncomfortable. Slight discomfort is often a red flag for something dramatically wrong on stage - cast members falling while running with scissors, set pieces collapsing, light bulbs exploding; i.e., things that can terrify - but afterwards she said no big deal: her particular costume was just too constricting for the big movements of the dance number.

Very clever: 3-D glasses for the "Alone At A Drive-In Movie" scene!

Unfortunately, I have no photos (digital camera wasn't charged).

Listen, It's Just Unacceptable

The world is a messy place when you are G. W. Bush, and increasingly "unacceptable."

In the first nine months of this year, Bush declared more than twice as many events or outcomes "unacceptable" or "not acceptable" as he did in all of 2005, and nearly four times as many as he did in 2004. He is, in fact, at a presidential career high in denouncing events he considers intolerable. They number 37 so far this year, as opposed to five in 2003, 18 in 2002 and 14 in 2001.

... Having a president call something "unacceptable" is not the same as having him order U.S. troops into action. But foreign policy experts say the word is one of the strongest any leader can deploy, since it both broadcasts a national position and conveys an implicit threat to take action if his warnings are disregarded.

... Bush's targets expanded from 2003 to 2005 to include nine condemnations of "unacceptable" actions by Iraq and Iran, as well as the Social Security system and the administration's own response to the Katrina hurricane. This year, he has hurled the term "unacceptable" at actions by Iraqi insurgents and police, at supporters of a withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq, and at a U.S. law making the degrading treatment of detainees a war crime.

North Korea's planned firing of a missile was unacceptable, Bush said June 29; after Pyongyang fired several missiles July 4, Bush again labeled the action unacceptable on July 7 and July 10. He also deemed unacceptable the country's starving of its people, its use of concentration camps and its claimed nuclear test.

Using such a categorical term is not that surprising after a policy setback, according to Steven Kull, a political psychologist who directs the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes. Some people deal with failures, Kull said, "by intensifying an authoritarian posture and insisting that their preferences are equivalent to a moral imperative."

Asked at a news conference on Wednesday whether Washington risks looking feckless in making such categorical statements without taking decisive action, Bush said: "It's very important for the American people and North Korea to understand that that statement still stands. . . . I know this sounds [like] just saying it over and over again, but it's -- rhetoric and actions are all aimed at convincing others" to join Washington's effort to impede that country's weapons ambitions.

... Many foreigners think the United States is losing Iraq and are no longer in awe of U.S. military might, Naím said, and at home, Bush is so weak that Republican candidates are wary of appearing with him. "The world has noticed," Naím said. "What is happening is that a lot that was deemed unacceptable [by Bush] now has become normal and tolerable."

Bush's proclamations are not the only rhetorical evidence of his mounting frustrations. One of his favorite verbal tics has long been to instruct audiences bluntly to "listen" to what he is about to say, as in "Listen, America is respected" (Aug. 30) or "Listen, this economy is good" (May 24). This year, he made that request more often than he did in a comparable portion of 2005, a sign that he hasn't given up hope it might work.

A Rogue's Gallery Of Casinos

Left: The handsome new Wynn Casino.


Here are a few photos from my recent trip at the end of September to meet John Wright in Vegas (from the morning of Thursday, September 28, 2006). Some photos are from the fishbowl front of the top level of "The Deuce" double-decker bus:

Fountain at The Paris.

Lion at the MGM Grand. This lion is the largest bronze sculpture in the Western Hemisphere.

The Rio.

New York, New York.

Toni Braxton is big enough in Vegas to qualify as a rogue (even if not a casino).

Caesar's Palace.

The Mirage Hotel radiates as much 'Love!' as is safe for a casino to allow.

How Negritos Come To Fear The Forest

Tales of a Filipina childhood:

E.: One day, when I was nine years old, I came home from school, but everyone was gone - my parents and all my cousins - everyone was gone. I called out "Mama! Mama!", but no one answered. Where did they all go? I thought, "maybe everyone went next door to the nearby farm," so I walked over there. They grew lots of abaca (used for making rope), and coconut and banana trees there. The forest was thick there. As I got closer, I heard chopping, like with a machete, and I thought "maybe everyone is getting coconuts from the trees, and chopping them up to get coconut meat (copra), and so that's why everyone left." The forest was getting thicker and thicker. Then, the chopping stopped....

Suddenly, I was face-to-face with a negrito child - girl or boy, I don't know. M-a-a-a-r-r-r-c-c-c! The negrito was black, black, black, and real short! I looked at the negrito, and the negrito looked at me. I shouted to the top of my lungs "Aaaarrrrgggghhhhh!!!!!" and the negrito shouted back "Aaaarrrrgggghhhhh!!!!!" The negrito child turned and ran away as fast as it could, and I turned and ran away as fast as I could in the other direction."

M.: You shouted through the top of your lungs?

E.: I shouted TO the top of my lungs!!!! M-A-R-C! I never, ever saw a negrito before!!

M.: But there are lots of negritos in the Philippines.

E.: Yes, but I never knew any. All my friends would always tell me, "you are too snobby."

M.: Where did the negrito come from?

E.: I don't know - maybe the mountain, or the jungle, or the wild - derness.

M.: Poor negrito!

E.: I ran all the way home. When I got there, my mother and everyone was there. They said everyone had been there all along, and they hadn't gone anywhere. M-A-R-C! In the Philippines, we believe spirits can hide people!!!! I think the spirit of the duwende (dwarf) hid my mother and my family from sight!!!!

"The Departed"

Left: Thank goodness I'm from NYC, and not like those Boston cops at all! (From DMTC's recent production of "West Side Story." Photo by Dannette Vassar. But wait! Dannette is in the foreground. How can that be? I smell a rat!)


Went and saw Martin Scorcese's new crime epic, "The Departed." Lots of unexpected corruption in the Boston Police Department. There was an undercover case opened several years ago that may have been a partial inspiration for this movie - the discovery that the FBI had been using a Boston mafia member in the 70's and 80's as an informant, and hence was directly implicated in at least one murder. Nevertheless, reality aside, it appears the plot of this movie comes from a 2002 Hong Kong film, suggesting the universality of this particular theme:

Years ago, a powerful Irish mafia figure placed a small selection of his youngest, brightest men into the Massachusetts Police Academy as cadets. Their purpose is to eventually rise within the prestigious ranks of the city's police department, to serve as the eyes and ears of their boss. While somewhere else, a young cadet was assigned with an equally dangerous task: infiltrate the Irish syndicate headed by the man sending in his own to the Boston Police.

...The Departed is set in South Boston, where the state police force is waging war on Irish-American organized crime. Young undercover cop Billy Costigan (DiCaprio) is assigned to infiltrate the mob syndicate run by gangland chief Frank Costello (Nicholson). While Billy quickly gains Costello's confidence, Colin Sullivan (Damon), a hardened young criminal who has infiltrated the police department as an informer for the syndicate, is rising to a position of power in the Special Investigation Unit. Each man becomes deeply consumed by his double life, gathering information about the plans and counter-plans of the operations he has penetrated. But when it becomes clear to both the mob and the police that there's a mole in their midst, Billy and Colin are suddenly in danger of being caught and exposed to the enemy-and each must race to uncover the identity of the other man in time to save himself. But is either willing to turn on the friends and comrades they've made during their long stints undercover?

Very interesting film! The movie has the characteristic Scorcese Taxi-Driver type of bloody grandeur, with language too coarse to be realistic, and lots of blood-spattering gunplay - the inspiration for Tarantino and a whole younger generation of filmmakers. Hooray for the old man! He can still pack the theaters!

Afterwards we wondered: who can you trust? People in power? Not if they are like Scorcese's Boston Police Department. Even if you rely only on yourself, what you believe to be true may be so utterly wrong as to render your judgement useless.

Jack Nicholson, that corrupt, debauched galleon of a small-time Don, is priceless "smelling a rat".

Continued Warm In The West

So sayeth the climatologists. But what's this Indian Ocean connection?:

The West is 2 to 3 degrees warmer than its average annual temperature, calculated using more than 100 years of records, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Many studies peg the rise in the earth's average temperature since 1880 at 1 degree, making it the warmest it has been in the last 400 years.

At a conference Thursday, Overpeck said data from some 30 computer-modeling studies shows that by mid-century annual average temperatures in the West will be up 4 or 5 degrees. By the end of the century, the West could be 7 to 8 degrees warmer, he said.

..."The Indian Ocean is (one) of the key ingredients when I make seasonal forecasts," Wolter said. "(We) shouldn't get panicky that there's runaway warming right now."

Seasons Of Life

About ten years ago, I decided to let this stage of life pass me by. It's true: some things do belong to youth!

This is this week's B3ta Question of the Week:

Road Rage: Have you lost it on the roads, or have you been on the recieving end of some nutter?

Here's my response:

American Advice: Just Flip Them The Bird

Road rage? Happens all the time!

Pulling out of a deserted McDonald's parking lot late at night in my VW Bug, my friend and I flipped the bird to some cowboys in a jacked-up pickup truck who were trying to pull into the same parking lot. Aroused, they chased us all over the nearby empty roads, eventually ramming our vehicle before fleeing. When I reported their license plate number to the police, the cop 'inadvertently' released their home address. I spent the next month fruitlessly stalking their neighborhood waiting for the truck to return home (frickin' cowboys probably raping cows at night instead).

Then there was the time I flipped the bird to some exasperated jerk who honked and pulled in front of me, thinking I was taking too long to turn onto a major street. Instead of driving off, that incensed jerk peeled right around, stomped up to my driver's window, and quietly asked "Would you please roll down your window?" I quietly replied, "no."

Then once, I was on foot, on the sidewalk, walking across a hamburger restaurant drive-up window, when some university student 'scholars' loudly honked right in my ear - they didn't even notice me, they had seen some friends across the street. Bastards! So I flipped them the bird, and they noticed me after all. They came peeling out of the driveway, and we had a standoff in the street, in front of dozens of potential witnesses: me the matador, and they the stupid bull. I egged them on to make good their threats to attack and they burnt rubber with their hollow threats to do so. Pedestrians are more agile than cars in close quarters. Stupid university students!

Wanna meet your fellow motorists? Just flip them the bird!

Intimidation

The Secret Service decided to "investigate" Julia Wilson, a McClatchy High School freshman, for ill-advised anti-Bush comments. You would think that they could tell from other MySpace evidence that they weren't dealing with Lee Harvey Oswald, and I'm sure they understood that from the very beginning. The Secret Service's real purpose was to intimidate: prevent others from making threats, or indeed, express any opinions at all. The thinking supposedly will be "Wow! If they go after high school students, who won't they go after?"

Secret Service heavy-handedness will backfire, though. Think they won any friends yesterday?

"Ultimate Kylie" DVD

The going-out-of-business sale at Tower Records, Broadway, has some benefits. Last year, I ordered the "Ultimate Kylie" DVD from the UK, but had to return it, because of the incompatible European format. Nevertheless, there it was at Tower Records, in the proper U.S. format, so I purchased it.

Reading William Baker's quasi-biography of Kylie Minogue, "Kylie - La La La", he had made frequent references to Kylie's videos, but being in the U.S., I had never seen most of these videos, particularly the early ones. Some of the newer ones, I had only seen as grainy images over the Internet. The "Ultimate Kylie" DVD is a compendium of most of her videos, particularly the early, influential ones, so I finally can match words to imagery. (For a Kylie fan, I know so little!)

And what imagery! Some videos really stand out, and others are just OK. The earliest six or seven videos are just OK - her early days, before she fully gained her footing in the world of fashion and music. What Baker refers to the "triptych" of videos from the early 90's are something else, though. They rise to a new level.

"Better The Devil You Know" - Such a dynamic video! According to Baker:

Hair blowing with wind machine on full power, arms raised above her head and lifted by a black man, his hands clearly defined against her pale flesh, it was apparent she was well underway on the course of what she described as her own 'sexual revolution'. The fact that the love interest dancer in the video was black is significant: the sexualising of the black male and implied interracial relationship were pushing boundaries in Kylie's own way. This wouldn't have been worthy of comment had not her previous videos been so twee and asexual in comparison.

"What Do I Have To Do?" - Such art! According to Baker:

Kylie's drag queen impersonation in "What Do I Have To Do?" leapt out from the screen at me in those three and a half minutes of celluloid hi-camp, her whole future and its infinite diversity of possibilities opened up in my mind's eye. The shot where she is ironing, dressed in a Mugler version of a French maid's outfit, hurling the iron back and forth with more makeup than Boy George, Marilyn and Pete Burns put together, remains my all-time favourite image of her, glamorising the most mundane of household chores. Not a fraction of an inch of those eyebrows melted as the steam rose from the fifties iron and from that moment I became a Kylie fan.

...The imaginary fusion of Joan Collins meets Liz Taylor with a tattooed panther on her back perfectly expressed the playful seduction, flirtatious charm, and kitsch glamour of the girl I was soon to meet. With that video, she unwittingly cornered every conceivable member of a pop audience: Her gay fans admired the drag sensibility, her little girl fans dived into their mother's make-up bags, her straight male fans wanted to bend her over the ironing board, and older girls wanted to nip down to the wig shop and re-invent themselves.

Of the triptych, "Shocked" was the only video to disappoint, which I blame mostly at the effort at cinema verite: in close-ups, while the target can continue to move, the camera should cease moving - otherwise, when both move, the viewer tends to get ill.

Other videos surprised me with their charm: Brilliantly-colored space-age kitschy "Put Yourself In My Place" and superbly-staged "Kids" (duet with Robbie Williams) chief among them.

Then there was the first Kylie video I ever saw: "La, La, La". It was March, 2002, and I was in a motel room in Phoenix, AZ. Ostensibly I was attending a family reunion, but the real reason for the get-together was (ironically enough) for my cousin to formally announce to the assembled family that her breast cancer had spread to other organs.

Alone, I was half-watching a video channel, either VH-1 or MTV I can't recall, and suddenly I was transfixed. "Who IS she?" I wondered, as she frolicked through the futuristic cityscape of the video. She encompassed every pop ideal I had ever conceived of, but I didn't know who she was. The name brought only hazy memories (Americans unfortunately being outside her publicity penumbra). I did recall Madonna wearing a Kylie T-Shirt at the MTV awards, though, and if Madonna was a fan, then who could argue?

Shortly afterwards, I saw Kylie's "Light Years" DVD on sale at Tower Records, Davis, and blindly took a chance on it. The campy, live 2000 Sydney concert, inspired so very much by musical theater, was pure heaven! I've never looked back.

Lastly, there is the video for "Chocolate". With its superb production values, high fashion, and modern-style ballet, "Chocolate" is probably the most-artistic video ever assembled by any pop star.

Plus the extras, particularly Kylie's live performance at the Brits awards ceremony!

Kylie locates and presses every emotional button I have - no one can compare! She unites the worlds of dance and movies and pop culture and Broadway and Hollywood with a highly-intelligent yet fresh understanding of the past century of fashion and music. Both her and her creative team, particularly William Baker, seem to conceive pop culture as, first and foremost, a matter of fashion. Some people disagree, making music the primary field of action, but Kylie's impressive success argues the opposite.

When it comes to pop culture, fashion is first, followed by music, and then dance.

The 2003 Candidates Confer....

...About Ab Zurd's new movie "The Day Arnold Schwarzenegger Kicked My A**":

Diana Foss: The movie is great! And I'd say that even if I didn't make a microsecond appearance in it. (As if I'm the only one!)

Doesn't 2003 seem like a long time ago?

Marc Valdez: Have you seen the movie, Diana? How many boxes of Mentos does it rate? Has anyone else seen it?

Diana Foss: I have seen it. Abner sent me a rough cut DVD last year. I can't really use the Mentos scale (given how sick I made myself on Mentos three years ago) but I'd say the little man is definitely sitting up and clapping.

Cheryl Bly Chester: Do you think we can get all of the Sacramento Area Candidates out for next weeks showing?! - I think it would be a total blast!!

Marc Valdez: I'm definitely up for it! Let's get everybody down to the Crest Theater on Thursday evening and have a party!

"The Day Arnold Schwarzenegger Kicked My A**"

Last night, while walking my dog, Sparky, near the musical theater rehearsal space for Sacramento's Runaway Stage Productions, I started reading a fresh copy of the weekly, Sacramento News and Review (SN&R). Sparky started coughing as he snuffled through the leaves, and I started coughing as I snuffled through the ads and movie listings in SN&R - Ab Zurd has a movie coming out!!! The film is called: "The Day Arnold Schwarzenegger Kicked My A**".

Abner Zurd, filmmaker, was one of the 135 candidates on the ballot for Governor in the 2003 Recall Election, and she has made a film about her experiences in that campaign. Her statewide tour takes her to three theaters. Let's support Ab Zurd's film!!!

Tour dates:

Sunday, November 5, 2006, 4 PM
Art Share Los Angeles (in downtown arts district)
801 E. 4th Place • Los Angeles, CA 90013

Friday, October 20, 2006, 6:30 PM
The Pageant Theatre • 351 East Sixth Street • Chico, CA 95928

Thursday, October 19, 2006, 7 PM
The Crest Theatre • 1013 K Street • Sacramento, CA 95814

Promotional videos. Music by New Maximum Donkey.

"The Tonight Show" Flaunts The Law - Again!

So, Jay Leno is resisting inviting Democrat Phil Angelides to come on "The Tonight Show," as he is legally-required to do if Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger appears.

I remember the 10 seconds of shouting-in-unison we other candidates were so graciously allowed in the 2003 campaign.

Sorry, NBC must follow the law. If they don't, penalties must follow.

Southern Turbulence, And The Betrayal Of Nerds

Walt from South Carolina sends a gift - a spreadsheet with temperature data:

Hey Marc: I just got back from a business trip to San Diego. Beautiful city; I can see why everybody wants to live there. I got window seats on the flights. It is amazing how much one can recognize on the ground if you watch closely, and keep track of where you are. On the way out, I recognized Deming, Las Cruces, Carlsbad, and even the WIPP site! On the way back, I saw Mexicali, Yuma, Magdalena, and the VLA. Also recognized a limestone quarry in northern Alabama which Kathleen and I visited in May. I'll tell you, the desert around and south of Yuma is one inhospitable-looking place. My guess is that it's the most desolate tract of land in North America, except for perhaps Death Valley.

On the way back, the 757 had screens behind every seat. You could find a channel which listed altitude & temperature. So, in keeping with my nerd roots, I followed the temps as we descended from 41,000 feet in Mississippi, to landing in Atlanta. Check out the attached graph. I'd appreciate any insights you could give.

Hi Walt: I'm having trouble with these numbers. Particularly with the temperatures above 10,000 feet - that whole second inversion - they seem just way too high, maybe by 20 degrees F, or more, compared to temperature soundings for the day for Shelby, AL. Some of the temperatures at the highest levels loosely-follow wet adiabatic conditions when plotted on a Skew-T Log-p diagram, which makes me wonder whether the temperature thermistor was covered with some kind of water, or maybe ice. Hard to say, though.

The most interesting part of your sounding is that second inversion - what causes it? But if it's an instrument artifact, then it becomes less compelling.

The Shelby, AL soundings suggest that it was dry, with little convection, and on the whole, a nice day to fly. - Marc

Observations that day for Shelby AL, at 10/7 12Z (6 a.m. CST), and 10/8 0Z (6 p.m. CST).

Skew T - Log p diagram for Shelby AL, at 10/7 12Z (6 a.m. CST).
Skew T - Log p diagram for Shelby AL, at 10/8 00Z (6 p.m. CST).

Walt replies:

I knew it!!! Those bastards!!! When I flew over from Italy in June, at 39000 ft, the temperature was about -50 or -60 F the whole way. On this trip, they reported it at -30 to -35 F at 39K and 41K feet everywhere from CA to MS. If you can't trust data, what can you trust?

But that second inversion is interesting. I bet it could be real, because there were two periods of turbulence. Do two inversions happen often?

On most afternoons, that first inversion is almost always there - lower-level warmth comes from solar heating. The second inversion is a feature of high pressure systems, where air descends slowly from higher elevations, and warms up by adiabatic heating.

The weather maps for that afternoon (about 4 hours after your flight) show a rather striking upper-level, cold-core cutoff low centered over South Carolina. The low washes out at lower elevations (that's how one can tell it's cold-core), so at the surface, it's all but indistinguishable. At the surface, the entire eastern U.S., including the entire South, was under the influence of a high pressure system centered over New York.

What that means is that there was a significant wind speed gradient. Winds from the north over Alabama and vicinity were much faster at higher elevations than at lower elevations, meaning there was a lot of potential for turbulence.

It's plausible that there was descending air at high elevations over Alabama and vicinity, given that Alabama was on the western (upstream) side of the upper-level low, but it's not assured, since the wind speeds are not equal around the low. Also, the low was moving in a somewhat retrograde fashion (moving to the SSW rather than to the east). The temperature sounding shows a somewhat equivocal isothermal zone above the first inversion. Probably there were a lot of transient waves passing through this zone, so the situation could change noticeably from hour-to-hour, sometimes air rising, sometimes descending, and not always in synchrony from one level to the next, had one been around to measure it.

Turbulence acts in funny ways. Over mountain ranges, it can propagate forward and up, so flying over central or eastern Nevada, you can intercept Sierra Nevada-triggered turbulence, even though the mountains are many miles away. It can also propagate through atmospheric layers defined by inversion layers, sometimes long ways. The turbulence you noted was likely at the boundaries of different atmospheric layers defined by temperature inversions, or at least different temperature properties. There was certainly the potential for it, that day, given the presence of the upper-level low and the wind speed gradient, and despite the fact that elsewhere, it was A VERY NICE DAY.

Sending The Sick Overseas

First there was the business of sending the aged to overseas nursing homes. Now, there is the business of sending people overseas for surgery. The slippery slope of globalization....

Home State Cuisine

Why California fast food just isn't the same:

The Isleta Police Department officers had eaten about half of their burgers from a Burger King restaurant in Los Lunas before realizing that something was wrong. Opening the burgers, they discovered marijuana sprinkled on top of the meat.

“One of the officers, when he was eating his hamburger, he said, ‘This thing tastes like it has marijuana in it,’” said Lieutenant Joseph Sanchez of the Los Lunas Police Department. “And that’s when he opened it up to see what was inside."

Tinhorns

It's like "West Side Story," only without Lieutenant Schrank and with better weapons:

President Evo Morales replaced Bolivia's minister of mines and also the head of the state mining company Friday following clashes between rival bands of miners that left at least 16 dead and more than 60 injured.

...Violence began Thursday morning in Huanuni, a mining town 180 miles south of the capital La Paz, where rival mining groups battled with guns and dynamite over access to Bolivia's richest deposit.

...The violence began Thursday morning, when hundreds of miners belonging to independent cooperatives stormed the state-owned Huanuni mine, demanding more access to its tin deposits. State-employed miners counterattacked to regain control of the mine and the groups exchanged gunshots and dynamite.

Miners from both sides, some only in their teens, threw dynamite and homemade explosives at each other from ridge to ridge, sometimes separated by no more than 50 feet (15 meters).

On Friday morning, members of the miners' cooperative rolled three tires packed with explosives down the side of the mountain toward town, causing an enormous explosion.

The violence followed a breakdown in negotiations in the nearby city of Oruro in which the miners' cooperatives rejected a government proposal dividing Huanuni's veins of tin between the two groups.

"West Side Story" Ends

A few good pictures. Here are some snapshots from Friday, October 6th. Plus, here's Bev Sykes review of West Side Story.

Left: "Cool." Seated on floor, Anybodys (Chloe Condon). Facing camera, Katy Fast, Kristin Cunningham, Hannah Allen (although she's kind of hard-to-spot), Bess Toyama, and Katherine Vanderford.

"Get smart, you stupid hoodlums!" Lt. Schrank (Mike Jones) delivers some rough advice to Bernardo (David Ott).



Anita (Amanda Morish) in "Quintet."

Tony (Colby Salmon) and Anita (Amanda Morish) in "Quintet."

Study in ballet. Tony (Colby Salmon) and Maria (Chelsea Baldree) in "Somewhere" ballet.





Saturday night, October 7th.

Anita (Amanda Morish), (Maria Chelsea Baldree), and the Sharks (Nick Peters, Jason Masino, Hermenio Torres, and David Ott), in "Quintet."

Marisa Casillas and Edward Nelson in the "Somewhere" ballet.

Baby John (Ryan Warren, back to camera) dolls it up as the social worker in "Gee, Officer Krupke." Facing the camera, Edward Nelson; kneeling, Alex Poe and Andy Hyun.

Happy 25th Birthday, Lauren!

Nice evening with MikeMac and Lauren and everyone!

Call Of The Wild Marsupian

E.: I've had it with that sick psychopattic nut in the head. He is SO ugly! He looks like a alien. His neck looks like a - heron. His voice sounds like a marsupian - Mwauffgh, mwauffgh, mwauffgh, mwauffgh, mwauffgh, mwauffgh, mwauffgh, mwauffgh, mwauffgh.....Marc! Are you listening to me? MARC! Are you listening to me? MARC! M-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-rc!

M.: What does the marsupian sound like again?

E.: Mwauffgh, mwauffgh, mwauffgh, mwauffgh, mwauffgh, mwauffgh, mwauffgh, mwauffgh, mwauffgh, mwauffgh, mwauffgh, mwauffgh, mwauffgh, mwauffgh, mwauffgh, mwauffgh, mwauffgh, mwauffgh.

M: Mmmmmm.....

The Folks Back Home Take Notice



The Half Moon Bay Review does an excellent feature article on Robert Coverdell:

On Sept. 24, Coverdell was also named Best Supporting Actor (for his portrayal of Isaacher) at the 24th annual Elly Awards. The awards ceremony recognizes performers and theater technical talent in the Sacramento area.

"I was shocked," said Coverdell. "I wasn't expecting to win."

Coverdell traces his dance roots back to the Coastside and years of study at the Susan Hayward School of Dance in Montara.

Having grown up in Half Moon Bay, he appeared in musicals in all his four years at Half Moon Bay High. As a freshman, he played Harvey Johnston in "Bye Bye Birdie;" as a senior, he played Evelyn Oakley in "Anything Goes." In between, he had ensemble parts in "42nd Street" and "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying."

At 18, with Coastal Repertory Theater, he played the hero role - named Hero - in the comedy "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" in 2003.

Bobbi Bader, RIP



The Sacramento ballet community has been thrown into turmoil by the abrupt death of Bobbi Bader, a Capitol City Ballet Company alumnus who has taught ballet for a number of years at 'The Ballet Studio' in a shopping plaza near Bradshaw and Folsom, near Rancho Cordova. Services were held Saturday at East Lawn Cemetery, at 43rd and Folsom, in Sacramento, with a reception following at her studio. Here is the Sacramento Bee obituary notice:

BADER, Roberta Ann (Bobbi)

Born September 20, 1951, in Sacramento, CA; passed away September 30, 2006, at the age of 55. Bobbi was the owner of The Ballet Studio for over 20 years. She was the beloved daughter to Robert and Marjorie Bader, who preceded her in death. Survived by her sister, Cynthia Holloway and her husband Thomas; nephews Thomas (TJ) and Robert Holloway of Rescue, CA, niece Elisa Holloway of Lowell, OR. She will be greatly missed by numerous relatives and friends. Funeral services will be held East Lawn Memorial Park, 43rd & Folsom Blvd., Sacramento, Saturday, October 7, at 2pm.

Published in the Sacramento Bee from 10/4/2006 - 10/5/2006.

People are working backwards from symptoms in order to figure out how this happened. She had apparently been unable to keep food down, suggesting a digestive ailment of some sort. She apparently hadn't consulted doctors - a practice discouraged by her Christian Science faith.

Ballet friends had apparently tried to help. One friend, E., in addition to being a student, is also a highly-regarded M.D., and she had offered to shop, or do anything that might be of service, but ever the stoic, Bobbi had firmly refused. I'm sure E. wasn't the only one to offer assistance.

Dance teaches many things. One of these things is a prickly sort of independence, a stubborn determination to master one's own body. In a moment like this crisis, when one should reach out, dance discourages doing so. Plus, reaching out for help to one's long-term friends - often, one's students - means inverting the traditional student/teacher relationship - another no-no.

The ballet community is reacting now by trying to cobble together a response to keep 'The Ballet Studio' open. One student suggests that 'Heidi and Pam' might jointly-offer classes, while inviting others to offer classes in their specialties as well (I don't know who Heidi is, but Pam is Pam Kay Lourentzos). I don't know what Pam's response is, though.

The studio's rent (~$850/mo.) is reasonable, and no upfront expenses are required to install floors and barres. For young, up-and-coming ballet teachers, this may be an excellent opportunity to get business experience.

People will be affected by Bobbi's passing for a long time. In Sunday's ballet class with Pam, E. got emotional when Pam highlighted a particular detail of port de corps as 'something Bobbi had emphasized for many years.' And I got emotional when Pam played Pachelbel's Canon in D Major - Bobbi's trademark barre music - for a floor exercise (I took class with Bobbi from 1991 to 1997, before getting so involved with community musical theater).

Bobbi inspired many students to work their hardest. We will miss her very, very much.